Posted
by
samzenpus
on Monday July 16, 2012 @01:45PM
from the form-factor dept.

harrymcc writes "2012 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Grid Compass 1101, the first portable computer with a briefcase-like case with a keyboard on one side of the interior, a flat screen on the other, and a hinge in the middle--the 'clamshell' design that eventually became standard for all portable PCs. It's proven to be a remarkably useful and durable design, and only with the advent of the iPad has it faced serious competition."

We had one in our office in 1990 IIRC. It was a Compaq about the size of a lunchbox, with a detachable wired keyboard and an orange plasma display. No mouse, those were the DOS days.

Ten years before that (thirty years ago) my mon (now long-retired) brought home an IBM clamshell. It was the size of a medium suitcase, weight a LOT, had a five inch green CRT and a 5 MB hard drive and two floppy drives.

Now? The most powerful computer I have ever owned is my notebook, which weighs less than a DOS manual did.

You are right that the TRS-80 was a popular system in the space it was in. I had a Model I and a Model IV, so I know I enjoyed the Tandy brand. Don't confuse market leadership with having a mature market.

If you went to an office, you didn't see a Tandy (or other computer) at every workstation and most families didn't have a computer at home. By the time computers really started to hit the mainstream, Tandy had flamed out and became a distant memory. I even had a 1000 Series, but it would be my last... too p

The article asserts that the clamshell is the portable computer format that "won". It certainly became popular (especially compared to the lunchbox shape), but the Palm Pilot made its format dominant for a few years, until the iPhone killed it. And the iPod is a more specialized computer, although the iPhone has mostly killed it. And the iPhone is very definitely a portable computer (telephony's only one of many apps on it), though you could argue that it's essentially the same format as the Palm Pilot,

In 1972, EMS Synthi AKS was a briefcase with a keyboard on one side -- it just happened to have a synthesizer on the other side, instead of a computer. The clamshell design is a pretty obvious model to follow.

As my reward for this post, I would be happily accept a Synthi AKS. It seems fitting, you know?

As electronics become smaller, the only pieces that must remain large are the input and output devices, so the clamshell makes the best use of space. The iPad's input device isn't meant for serious input... a keystroke here or a mouse click there. Typing a real paragraph is a pain the fingers.

Now what I am really looking forward to is when these computers can output directly to my retina:)

Considering today's power/heat constraints, I find the usual "CPU/GPU under keyboard" configuration illogical. Why not a CPU / GPU / RAM board behind the screen, with a large/thin (passive, if possible) cooling plate at the rear? Or draw air in near the hinges, let air out near the top of the screen (again, passive if possible). Those 2 cooling methods wouldn't bite each other... Then just battery, keyboard, hard disk and peripherals like DVD drive (if fitted) under the keyboard. A few serial connections like USB / SATA + power between the two halves. Likely would leave more space such that a larger battery is possible.

Much better than packing heat-producing CPU/GPU right next to a heat-sensitive battery (+ a tiny blower to pull that heat out).

There's this pesky thing called physics that likes to get in the way: Namely, your device will be topheavy to the point of being unwieldy for non table use. The brilliance of the top containing only the screen is that it makes the thing balanced. I suppose you could put some additional stuff in the clamshell top. Ideally, the SSD, since it is a "low bandwidth" device (compared to a GPU or RAM) and requires only a few traces to be added to the cable running between the halves.

Now what I am really looking forward to is when these computers can output directly to my retina:)

I have mixed feeling about this. It will be incredibly convenient and cool. But I also am realistic enough to realize we don't live in a utopian Star Trek world. The thought of loosing my vision because of a glitch is scary enough. But even worse, can you imagine if someone hacks such a system and you are forced to look at goatse, and no matter what you do you cannot turn your head or close your eyes to make it go away.

As electronics become smaller, the only pieces that must remain large are the input and output devices, so the clamshell makes the best use of space.

Disagree. A separate Bluetooth keyboard saves much more space. The table case can double as a stable, adaptable support as with the Xoom portfolio case. Pointer alternatives are: 1) use the touchscreen (and wave your arms a lot and get fingerprints on the screen) 2) separate bluetooth touchpad 3) bloat up the bluetooth keyboard with an integrated touchpad 4) bluetooth mouse 5) USB mouse 6) Thinkpad style eraser head control (somebody should do that). In any case, the combination is all a lot more compact, l

"...the first portable computer with a briefcase-like case with a keyboard on one side of the interior, a flat screen on the other, and a hinge in the middle..."The osborne doesn't fit this definition. From the wikipedia pictures I don't see the hinge joining the keyboard to the rest of the system.

The original article didn't say that no other form factors have been used, or that the clamshell was the first format. (And the IBM 5150 (IIRC) that I was using in 1978-1979 was also portable, though you usually did the porting on a rolling cart.)

It said that the Clamshell format won, and everything else uses that format these days. Except, of course, for the Palm Pilot, Blackberry, iPhone, and iPad, which also are portable computers that won the Format Wars. (Yes, the Newton used that format before th

Yes, you usually ported it on a cart, but you could easily move it from your lab to your office, or your office to the lecture hall, or to the computer room where your grad students could use it, and you didn't have to disassemble/reassemble it the way you did with a PDP-11 or mainframe.

And this meant that when I was taking a number-crunching course in grad school, and our professor didn't want us to waste valuable mainframe time doing graphics with computers when we could learn more doing them by hand, I c

I'd like to see someone come up with a viable tablet/laptop hybrid. Either with swiveling screen that can be closed with the keyboard hidden or exposed. Maybe even a detachable full keyboard. I think it's been done before, but now that tablets are more successful, there's probably more of a market. Maybe gambling with laptop form factors is higher risk that with cell phones, but it would be great to see the same level of experimentation.

I had a competitor to one of those and... no, it really didn't work out so well. Microsoft's Tablet PC initiative was nice on paper, but what it proved was that you couldn't just build the hardware, the apps had to take advantage of it, too. The tablet you linked to, for example, probably didn't have a touch screen. If it did, it didn't work very well because the UI just plain wasn't designed for it. You wouldn't, for example, resize windows with it.

Yes, there are other approaches to it, but it's hard to beat the vinyl iPad cover/stand/keyboard things. Of course, it iPads had the decency to provide USB ports on the side, you could also plug a better keyboard into them when you wanted, without messing with non-standard docking cable adapters.

Everyone who knew about a Grid wanted on. It was the first piece of computer industrial design I knew about. OTH it really wasn't a clamshell. it was a pop up screen, like the tandy 200, released two years later. I would say the Tandy 200 is the first useful affordable laptop computer. Both were integrated systems with custom OS. It is interesting to note that we are returning to metal enclosures for high end computers, or those that want to look like it.

Unlike the Tandy, the grid computer only ran on line current. Compared to other portable computers the innovation in this machine was the flat display and internal expandability and storage. The expense of the screen was significant. Note that first Apple Mac was also a portable computer, but used a CRT.

In any case most of the computers through the 80's were not laptops, and we did not get reliable clamshells until 1990's.

Anyone who does anything productive an iPad ends up buying a case and a bluetooth keyboard, ending up with exactly the same overall use case as a clamshell laptop. The only advantage with the iPad is that the keyboard is optional, but for those of us who do a lot of work that "optional" part is a hassle and thus I always end up just using my laptop anyway. Anyone who claims they can be productive for long periods of typing with the terrible iPad on-screen keyboard is probably lying.

Anyone who does anything productive an iPad ends up buying a case and a bluetooth keyboard, ending up with exactly the same overall use case as a clamshell laptop.

Well.. not exactly. You're absolutely right that during the moments they're actually using a BT keyboard on the iPad that they are effectively replicating a clamshell design, but to even the most hardcore KB user, the iPad's independence of these peripherals still makes it very valuable. Laptops want to be able to do what the iPad does and as time goes by we're going to see more and more attempts at it.

The very first time I saw an on-screen keyboard, I knew it would never be more than a low-throughput device. I rooted for other screen-based input solutions, but Apple never let them be used as the default interface. Some of them actually worked quite well: I was able to get to 50wpm using the IBM SHARK [ibm.com] input method with an afternoon's practice.

Pen Computing was around in the mid 1980s and Microsoft Windows for Pens was released in 1991. Much like 3D movies are not new ( I have a VHS copy of the 1950s classic "Cat Women of the Moon in 3D" around someplace), the iPad is not a new idea even if it is nifty.

The Springboard was new, as well as its penless touch-based interface design... nothing before iPhone was even remotely like it. Tablet computing wasn't new, but Apple's offering is still notable for these changes in interface design, changing the landscape of all tablet computing henceforth.

The form makes sense. For a portable computer usable for typing you've got a few requirements:

You have to have a keyboard and screen.

The screen needs to have a working position around 90-135 degrees "up" from the plane of the keyboard. That's so the keyboard can be flat (preferred typing position) while the screen's at roughly a right angle to the line of vision.

When not in use you want the surface of the screen covered in some way, to prevent scratching or damage.

Had a GRiDcase III plus once upon a time, bought new in 1985 for $8,150, cash --- should've bought stock instead. Oh well, easy come, easy go. It and the NeXT Cube I had later were the nicest machines I ever used.

Other things to look forward to:

- anniversary of the ThinkPad announcement --- everyone should get and read _ThinkPad: A Different Shade of Blue_ by Deborah A. Dell --- fascinating insight into the creation of the ThinkPad

How many Grid Compasses are still in use today? The TRS-80 Model 100 is a remarkably robust design that continues to be the preferred choice for writers "in the field" where access to electricity is limited -- a keyboard, an LCD screen, a full-travel keyboard, and it can run for months on 4 AA batteries -- only the Alphasmarts outclassed it for pure writing enjoyment and durability.

Many, many years ago, I worked on an embedded single board system for monitoring traffic signals. We used the Model 100 to do site visits to update firmware/run diagnostics etc. I've moved on, as have the monitoring systems - but the service guys there are still using the same Model 100s to do the same job. It's proven to be a remarkably reliable machine.

It should be fairly straight-forward enough to put a Raspberry Pi and an 80x20 LCD plus keyboard into a small case w/ keyboard, touchpad and battery approximating the form of a Model 100 but speedier and with LOADS more storage space.

My main beef with the clamshell design is it's difficult to use from your average economy seat on an airplane. If you have the keyboard at a comfortable typing distance, the screen has to tilt forward to not hit the seat in front of you. Getting it to a proper angle means pulling the keyboard uncomfortably close to your body.

The Vadem Clio [wikipedia.org] had an interesting design where the screen was mounted in the middle on arms that attached to the back. Thus, it could hover over the keyboard and still tilt back. I

Dvorak called [dvorak.org] a similar-looking 1982 computer a "half-clamshell". Also, until just now, I had always assumed that the term "clamshell" was coined in Whoopi Goldberg's 1986 movie but a search [nytimes.com] in New York Times archives for "clamshell AND computer" turned up hits from 1983. So I can't blast Time Magazine for an anachronism.

Any bets some marketing droid went to engineering and asked for some string of ones and zeroes that looked compuerish? And some smart-a$$ engineer came back with 1101 knowing it was 13 and also knowing that the marketing droid would never figure that out?

Was Apple really the first to place the keys at the top of the open clamshell, and the pointing device on the lower half under your thumbs? I used a couple of PC notebooks before getting access to a Powerbook, and remember thinking "now this makes *&^%$#@! sense".

No it's not known. It's believed, in spite of its not actually being true.

Apple drones are like Christians. They prefer to believe in fables rather than in reality, because reality isn't nearly so soothing and ego-stroking.

But I'm sure you'll scurry back to your local cult outreach branch and soon be feeling the love again.

You are -flat- wrong. Apple was the first to have this laptop design, and advertised the new idea when they originally released the PowerBook 100, 140 and 170. Apple isn't always first... usually they pick up on a trend and make it better. But in this case, Apple indeed was the first with the wrist-rest laptop design. There were no laptops with this design prior to the PowerBook 100, 140 & 170 released in October of 1991.

Allow me to retort and prove you a liar and the venerable slashdot post you cite as mistaken. I can't help but notice there is no actual reference to a DEC model number that could be checked... but I did notice there is an "Intel Inside" sticker on the laptop in the picture. Observe the powers of the mighty Google search and the humblest of internet research (my emphasis):

In 1991 Carter launched the Intel Inside® coop marketing program. The heart of the program was an incentive-based cooperative adver

no I have a dec laptop with a trackball in the now normal position, Its date of manufacture is 1990 which is the same year as the original Macintosh portable started coming with a backlight, and a year before the first powerbook. The original portable in 89-90 gave you a reflective screen (think gameboy) a full sized keyboard, a full sized trackball on the right of the keyboard, and ran off of lead acid batteries. It was a old clunky luggable about 6 years too late.

The first powerbook came out in 91 and it came with the trackball built in, which makes since as you HAVE to have a mouse with a mac. My DEC clips onto the front with pogo pins that make the contact as an option. So while the powerbook was the first one with a built in pointing device, PC makers have been putting the trackball under the keyboard for years as an option

I used it for half a year, my company got me one to go around the country and do training on a new system we developed. It was connected to an overhead projector converter, where I could show the text on a projected screen.

For its day, it was a wonderful computer, it was tough, and it wowed people.

It was, however, very heavy for its size, and despite its look, it had no battery. It always had to be plugged in.

The display was far more usable than anything else at the time, it was extremely sharp, but as I

For three years, I used a Poqet PC [wikipedia.org] running Forefront's Framework Office Suite [wikipedia.org]. A PC you could fit into a coat pocket. Ran for a full week on 2 AA batteries. Had the best outliner I've ever used, even to this day. A fabulously productive platform.

My first laptop was a Zenith Z-181 [thecomputerarchive.com] which I got for cheap (unlike this one [ebay.com], what are they thinking...) at one of those computer dump markets which used to be held quite often back then. The thing still works, but it is currently in storage for lack of usable floppies (it has two 720K 3.5" 'flip-up' drives), time and interest. Its dark-blue-on-light-blue screen (or the other way around if that was preferred) felt strangely familiar, coming from a Commodore 64. Even though it has been surpassed in almost every

I know, right. By show of hands - who here no longer owns a PC and uses a keyboardless tablet for everything? Those of you using Bluetooth keyboards on your tablet - put your hands down, you're just lying to yourself for the sake of being with the hip crowd.